Monday, September 12, 2011

X-MEN: LIBERATORS #1 - November 1998

Summary:Wolverine and Nightcrawler accompany Colossus on a trip to Siberia.They stop at a tavern while waiting for their train and inadvertently start a bar fight.Not far away is the military installation, Province 13.Sergei, the director, overlooks the mutants gathered by the government.One of the mutants escapes and makes his way to the train station as Colossus, Wolverine, and Nightcrawler are boarding.

Continuity Notes:This story reveals that Colossus was one of several mutants created in Siberia following Cold War nuclear tests.

Review:This is an ‘80s nostalgia project highlighting the friendship between Wolverine, Colossus, and Nightcrawler; one of the relationships dropped by the X-titles when the characters moved on to different teams and/or continents.At the time of this miniseries’ release, Nightcrawler and Colossus, along with Shadowcat, were rejoining the X-Men during one of Marvel’s retro-kicks, a move that probably wasn’t as popular as Marvel editorial predicted.One reason the new/old lineup didn’t seem too thrilling was because the creators of the main books were apparently saddled with the team at the last minute, requiring numerous storylines to be dropped while the books went into extended crossover mode for several issues.I can’t say Steven Seagle or Joe Kelly handled the addition of Colossus, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat poorly, but I never got the impression they were too excited to be using them.Joe Harris, on the other hand, is writing a story specifically tailored for (most of) the returning characters, so this feels different.There’s nothing special about the plot so far -- there’s an ‘80s flashback, some light-hearted scenes following the cast to the airport and a bar, and some cryptic teasers for a new mutant -- but the execution is competent enough.The art looks like something Marvel would’ve published circa 1982, so that’s fitting, and I get the impression that Jimenez is getting a kick out of using these characters, too.

4 comments:

I think I read the first issue of this, being a huge fan of the late 70's/early 80's X-Men, but the story must not have wowed me enough to pick up the rest of it -- which is kind of surprising, because I liked almost everything Joe Harris did at Marvel around this time.

But anyway, now that I see Phil Jimenez drew this series, I kind of want to seek it out!